The Life and Times of Olive the Pug: Taking Time to Smell the Sunflowers.

Thursday was a picture perfect summer day here in central Massachusetts, so Greg and I asked Olive the pug if she would like to go for a little ride.  She said yes, of course, and off we went down to Griswold, Connecticut to Buttonwood Farm to walk amongst the sunflowers.

Since 2004, the good folks at  Buttonwood Farm have been planting sunflowers in their pastures and for about a week at the end of July, people come to view and buy the sunflowers, take hayrides and rides on their cow train.  The donations they receive from the visitors go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Connecticut.  Then, after the week is over, they open the fields to their cows.  Lucky cows!  I have to wonder if that's why the ice cream there is so very good.

  It’s a wonderful idea that has obviously become very popular because when we got there, we were surprised to see that they had a full house of people of all ages.  But that sure didn’t deter Olive from having a great time.  The kids all wanted to pet her and tell her how cute she is.  She couldn’t wag her tail fast enough.

We walked among the sunflowers enjoying the cheery color.

Olive, of course, had to stop and smell at least every other flower and she did stop to get petted a couple more times, too. Sometimes she even multi-tasked.  She’s pretty talented that way.

At the end of the path, we could go up on a slight incline to see the array of sunflowers from a slightly different perspective.

While on the hill, I spied these two little beauties who were all decked out in their finest sunflower regalia.

The wait for ice cream was a little too long at Buttonwood for a tired pug and a couple of tired people, so we continued on our journey back home stopping at the wonderful Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm, in Moosup, Connecticut, where I got to taste cucumber ice cream for the first time, which I recommend very highly – a refreshing, sweet taste.  And Olive got to meet a couple of little goats.  They seemed to like each other quite a lot and were disappointed that there was a fence separating them from one another.

Olive ended her day by obliging the photog and posing as a purkey.  

How can a pug have a better day than that, I ask you?  It’s just not possible.  If you were to ask Olive about it, she would tell you that in life, it's very important to take a little time out of your busy schedules now and then to stop and smell the sunflowers.